The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Sarah Laskow reports on a new study from the National Trust for Historic Preservation that confirms and quantifies the adage that reuse of a historic building is more sustainable than LEED certified new construction.

January 26 - Good

The prior code, adopted in 1962 and amended with with nearly 1,000 ad-hoc revisions since then, required a strict separation of uses and outlawed the classic Philadelphia rowhouse typology.

January 26 - APA Sustaining Places

Michael Kimmelman, after visiting the Penn South housing cooperative in Manhattan and reflecting on the new film "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth", questions the role that design has in determining success or failure for tower in the park housing type.

January 26 - The New York Times

John McIlwain explores the market for energy efficient housing, and finds growth across the country.

January 26 - The Atlantic Cities

Frugality, a lack of debt, and a government focused on high production, low inflation and extensive social services are the secrets to providing many Germans with a standard of living higher than Americans making twice as much.

January 26 - Los Angeles Times

The discovery of the harbor town of Bathonea in 2007, after a drought uncovered its water-logged remains, has yielded a treasure trove of relics illuminating Istanbul's rise as a world power.

January 26 - The New York Times

Through the lens of Chengdu and Delhi, Paul Webster and Jason Burke explore how the rise of the megacity is changing the way we live.

January 26 - The Guardian

The percentage of adult Americans living by themselves has doubled since 1960, to its highest level ever, and businesses are taking note.

January 26 - Fortune

The San Francisco neighborhood of Chinatown temporarily removed parking from Stockton Street for a week during the busy Lunar New Year season. Aaron Bialick reports on the results.

January 26 - Streetsblog San Francisco

Fracking technology led to a gas boom--now there's so much gas available, that prices have dropped along with demand.

January 26 - NPR

Abu Dhabi today reaffirmed its commitment to completing the long-delayed project to build a $27 billion cultural and tourism project known as Saadiyat Island.

January 25 - The New York Times

Yesterday the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a new ordinance meant to better tie planning for the county's unincorporated areas to positive public health outcomes.

January 25 - Curbed LA

Nate Berg reports on information compiled in the <em>8th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey</em>, and asks to what extent the affordability of housing is tied to land use policies and how much is related to other factors.

January 25 - The Atlantic Cities

Three pieces on last night's State of the Union address by President Obama focused largely on what wasn't said, than what was, concerning Energy, Infrastructure, and Urbanism.

January 25 - the transport politic

With L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 'America Fast Forward' plan to fund 30 years of transportation improvements in 10 years going nowhere fast in Congress, Joel Epstein asks if the Mayor might be lining up our country's creditor-in-chief.

January 25 - The Source

Nancy Folbre looks at a new study by the Foundation for Child Development featuring state-level differences in a broad set of quality-of-life indicators for children, and parses the results.

January 25 - The New York Times

John Pavlus reports on Eric Fischer's use of Twitter's geotagging feature to map the most highly trafficked thoroughfares in several cities. The results are fascinating, and beautiful.

January 25 - Fast Company Co.Design

A new survey provided some good news for the alternative technology sector of the auto market: younger consumers prefer hybrids and other electrified vehicles over conventional vehicles, especially fuel-inefficient ones.

January 25 - Bloomberg News

A neighborhood in Tarzana, one of the few residential areas in Los Angeles County that allows raising livestock, battles developmental pressures. The latest proposal: razing five homes for an elderly care center.

January 25 - Los Angeles Times

As the Republican primary battle heats up heading into Florida, Michael A. Fletcher asks the question that many residents of the state are considering: how do the candidates propose addressing the housing crisis?

January 25 - The Washington Post